Hi all,

I've currently got a 2009 BMW 3 Series Sport Touring and considering chopping her in for a RRS (probably a 2.7d). I live in a fairly rural area and have 2 kids and a Golden retriever, and I'm finding it more and more frequent that roads around my area are flooded and unpasable in my 3 series. I had a 4x4 before and really miss being able to plow through the flooded roads and being high up, not to mention my Mrs loved driving the 4x4 and she hates driving my BM...

My previous car was a 2005 (facelift) BMW X5 3.0d Sport on 20s, which was amazing when it was behaving itself, but a nightmare when it wasn't... In my time (3 years) owning it I had a variety of issues such as:

Fuel gauge not working
Stereo display stopped working
Intermittent flickering dash lights
Driver's door handle broken
3 Window regulators broken
Window switch panel fault
Gearbox fault (4x4 Inactive on the dash)
Both front driveshafts had to be replaced
Alternator replaced

I had done tons of research on the X5 forums before buying the car and most of the issues I had heard about and/or was expecting at some point, but as my X5 ownership progressed I quickly lost faith in the reliability of the car. For example whenever I had to make a long journey 200+ miles, I was never very confident that the car would actually get there. At the time the car was approaching 100k and was 7 years old.

It's this bad experience that is making me hesitate on a RRS, mainly because my budget will be around £10k, so I imagine it would be a 2006/2007/2008 car with 100k miles (ish)

Earlier today I was sat in Argos carpark parked up next to a 2006 RRS and I couldn't help but notice that the plastic trim at the bottom of the door was hanging off, and the small bit of trim was missing from the door handle cover too... It seemed to be sitting lower at the back than the front and the whole car just looked a bit tired and sorry for itself.

I've done loads of browsing on this site over the last few months and seen many many many horror stories, and I was surprised to see that a number of them are from much newer cars than mine hypothetically would be.

I quite enjoy some (basic) DIY on my cars, such as replacing a broken bit of trim/components here and there, it's a great feeling to 'restore' a car to it's former glory. But I am concerned that a RRS for £10k with 100k+ mileage could potentially be another X5 money pit.

Could you guys give me an idea of some of the main (or expensive) things that usually go wrong on a high miler or that I can look out for? Luckily on the X5 the parts were readily available from local breakers/ebay etc for pretty reasonable prices, but I've heard that the RRS parts can be mega money even used.

Does anyone have any advice? or can any older RRS owners put my mind at rest?

My options are:

Keep my 3 series
Buy a 2007/8 X5 (and hope it's more reliable than the last)
Buy a RRS

Any advice much appreciated guys!

Edit - I would be looking at something similar to this:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/262240600357?ru=...26_rdc%3D1

Speaking as an long term owner (OK, had my MY11 since last Friday) I can safely say that in all my time owning a RRS its been faultless. Mines a 80,000 miler which rides and looks perfectly so high milers needent be problem cars.
Forums are great but you only tend to get the horror stories on them, my previous car was a Disco3, which had I read the forums first there's no way I'd have bothered buying but in a year of ownership cost me a reversing sensor and a set of pads.

Thanks Drinky!

Nobody buys a Land Rover of any flavour for their inherent reliability!

Caveat Emptor!

Old Jock 2018 (MY19) Jaguar F-Pace R-Sport 300PS Petrol in Caesium Blue with many bells and whistles.
2015 RRS HSE SDV6 Firenze Red with Santorini Panoramic Glass Roof, gone but not forgotten.

Honesty, you are likely to have to spend a bit at some point, but look after it and it will reward you. Do lots of reading on here and Disco3 to gauge some of the common issues. If you're considering the TDV6 Look up the oil pump/cam belt tensioner issue - it's major, but preventable. If it's high mileage then look for the transmission to have been serviced.

Cost of parts - well, many of us like to moan at price increases, and rightly so, but with OE equipment available it's not really bad at all so it's quite dependent on what it is. There are many cheap fixes, plenty of mid-range ones and a few biggies that can occur much like any premium car. DIY maintenence really helps to keep costs down, but is all the better still for the peace of mind.

 Visiting from DISCO3.CO.UK
2006 Discovery 3 TDV6 Auto HSE Zambezi Silver

I spent ages debating whether to change my A5 for a 2nd hand RRS. Now 7 months & 10000 miles later I still love it and this is the first car I haven't been eying up replacements for by this stage

It's had a new compressor and the instrument console has been replaced (both under warranty thank ) BUT even if I'd have paid for them myself I would still love this car.

Get one - if it turns out to be a lemon get rid of it. Life's short and we generally regret the things we don't do rather than the things we do 26 Jun 2015 - Just bought my dream car - 😀 2010 RRS HSE
Gone - A5 177 Black edition
Gone -A4 177 Black edition
Gone - Ducati 748 😂
Gone - Fireblade 😂

Hi (neighbour) and welcome, the RRS is certainly something else to own and run, just go for it and buy one life's to short bud. My only advice is try to find something with a decent service history as this seems to be the general rule of thumb, i'm no expert but if its been looked after it will respect you for it.  2007, HSE, Cairnes Blue, Factory tints, Love it !!!

I wouldn't do it. A non tired 100k mile 10 year old RRS will be hard to find.

If you need a 4x4 with dogs and kids etc and you need reliability and dependability, get something Japanese like a Toyota or Pajero (Shogun in UK).

My 2p's worth.............. there is plenty of well looked after RRS choice out there, avoid anything that has had big wheels (bigger than 19" in the case of pre 2007 cars when the beefed up steering rack became standard on all models not just S/C's and 2.7 HSE's specced with the Dynamic Handling Pack), avoid anything with a body kit, avoid anything that has been remapped and look at cars as near to factory original spec with a long service record. There are dogs out there but there are also faultless and reliable gems too. A long shot but if you can get underneath a potential purchase look out for offroad damage, like Discovery 3 these are hugely capable vehicles offroad and signs of mud in hidden places, bits of grass hanging down, dust in dry corners means that somebody has used it for the purpose it was built for! Don't let that put you off as the car IS designed to be take seriously offroad and it will possibly indicate that the transfer case / low range is working properly unlike many that never get shifted into low range and it all seizes up. So add a test of checking if the transfer works by opening the driver's windown and listening for any strange noises as the electics engage the lower range box, you should also get a light up on the dash once the shift has happened. It isn't a huge job to free it up, but it is a sign that maybe the car has never been properly looked after too as the manual does advise to periodically operate the transfer case. If you find mud/ grass and offroad injuries under the car you can laways use it as a bargaining point even though the car is meant to be taken into that situation. Also worth considering if you don't do big milages annually is the 4.2 Supercharged V8 which will also e slightly cheaper due to its alcoholic tendancy with petrol! 2020 Pangea Green 1st Edition D240 New Defender 110 is here and loving it
2018 Melting Silver Mini Countryman PHEV - soon to be replaced
2015MY Corris Grey SDv6 HSE Dynamic, the best car I have ever owned, totally reliable only a cou0le of rattles in 3 years, now no longer in my care
Also in my garage is a 1996 TDi300 Defender 90 County HT made into a fake CSW

made the same move from a 330 touring last year, having driven a mates TDV8 RRS a while before I had a itch to have one when i could afford it, 6+ months on and im very glad I did it still. I spent a while finding what I wanted in the condition and with the extras and mileage I wanted but found what I hope to be a very well looked after 1 owner car for the money I wanted to spend on a car that I dont really use as much as I would like to!
Dont rush and find the right one and you wont be disappointed.

I took the plunge around this time last year and had the same trepidation... I normally buy a car and only go looking for a site like this when I hit a problem so am blissfully unaware of the potential issues. On this occasion I did things the other way around and it was a bit alarming reading horror stories of blown turbos, body off repairs and stuff like that.

I can honestly say that my RRS is hands down the best car I have ever owned. She's now done over 100K and drives like a new car - I've not once regretted my purchase decision. I've just put it through it's 2nd MOT (with me) and had to replace the front lower suspension arms due to the bushes being worn. That cost me £600 as I didn't fancy doing the job myself, but other than that the only other (essential) expenses (besides a few tankers worth of petrol) have been what you'd get with any other car (brake pads all round, tyres, a new battery and a rubber seal for the tailgate).

As other have said, life is too short, go for it and enjoy it

I'm not gonna be able to offer any long-term RRS experience, as I only got my first RRS a few weeks ago.

I'm a bit of a pre-purchase forum reader to see what trouble I'll be getting into, and can honestly say, ANY make/model of car seems to have a list of known problems. So, I took the plunge - a 2007 RRS 4.2 s/c HSE which had a good service history, and with only 59k on the clock.

It had a couple of little niggles (nothing particularly major), but the dealer put pretty much all of them right before I picked it up, and a couple I missed during my pre-purchase inspections, a week after collection (no hassle, no quibble - including a new AFS front headlight). I know some people haven't had the same experience, but Saxtons 4x4 have been as good as gold for me.

My best piece of advice though, if you like 'em, then go for it!! For a car with very capable off-road creds, it drives like a car on tarmac - no wobbly ride or seasickness on roundabouts!! LOVELY!!! And, as it's a popular vehicle, there are a lot for sale, so be picky - no need to buy the first one you see.

Have fun!
Mint




PS - Admittedly, I plumped for the extended RAC warranty just to be on the safe side

Just got rid of my 70k mile 2010 E70 BMW X5 after a disastrous and expensive six weeks of ownership, in fact it cost me more in that time than my previous three RR Sports and one D3 did over 50k miles put together!!

Terrible vehicle, terrible steering, cheap interior, not particularly big inside relative to its exterior size and to cap it all off no-one ever lets you out from a side road!

I've owned most 4x4's and the RRS is in a completely different league all together to the rest, seriously, once you own one it's hard to drive anything else.

Thanks for all that info guys, certainly food for thought!

One thing I have been noticing though, is that (in my price range at least) there's a hell of a lot of eBay scams out there. I saw 4 RRS scams just last night alone.

Most of them are dead easy to spot (as it also mentioned in the 'how to spot a scam' thread on here) where a 2009 RRS Autobiography is listed for £4500 with the classic "SEND US YOUR EMAIL AND WE WILL GET BACK TO YOU" at the bottom.

There are however a few 'believable' ones mixed in there as well, for example a 2008 RRS, fully loaded, 120k, for £9000. At first glance these could easily be genuine, especially with crafty statements like "mileage might go up as in daily use" or "slight dent in the tailgate" etc. (Just to make a buyer think 'ahh it must be legit, no scammer would advertise any defects, surely')

Some of these don't even ask you to contact them over email, and have 2000+ positive feedback (hacked accounts), making them appear legit.

The big glaringly obvious giveaway however is at the bottom of the listing - "Powered by eBay turbo lister"

eBay turbo lister is used for high volume sellers to list multiple items all at once to save time. But how many genuine sellers will be listing their Range Rover Sport with eBay turbo lister?

I've seen this many times with other cars, but the sheer amount of scam RRSs out there is crazy, there's at least 3 or 4 new scams listed every day! Some are quickly removed (or some poor sod presses 'buy it now' and sends a deposit never to be seen again) but lots are still live.

Not to mention that in the past when I've had a written off car, my insurance company (Admiral) check eBay and the like for comparable cars to negotiate the payout.

Imagine your 2009 RRS worth £18k gets written off, and your ins company only offer you £5500 because that is what 'appears' to be the going rate! Hopefully that won't happen, but eBay seriously need to do something about these.

Example: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2007-LAND-ROVER-...SwoydWrfDP

Rant over!

Have you tried looking on Pistonheads for sale section and also the For Sale and Wanted listings on this forum? Good luck with your search. 2020 Pangea Green 1st Edition D240 New Defender 110 is here and loving it
2018 Melting Silver Mini Countryman PHEV - soon to be replaced
2015MY Corris Grey SDv6 HSE Dynamic, the best car I have ever owned, totally reliable only a cou0le of rattles in 3 years, now no longer in my care
Also in my garage is a 1996 TDi300 Defender 90 County HT made into a fake CSW